Columbia graduate Mahmoud Khalil was arrested Saturday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents at his university-owned apartment for his role in anti-Israel campus protests where repugnant flyers glorifying Hamas were handed out.
The Trump admin insists the US has legal justification to deport Khalil, whose arrest has sparked protests and outrage from the left.
Khalil, 30, a green card-holding Palestinian who received his graduate degree from the elite school in December, was brought to Jena/LaSalle Detention Facility in Louisiana, where a source said he was being “staged” for removal from the US.
But Manhattan federal Judge Jesse Furman temporarily halted his deportation Monday after Khalil’s attorney filed a petition.